ENG713M: Psychology of Language Learning and Second Language Acquisition

February 22, 2023

Language Learning
 Terms
o Atypical populations
o Special populations
o Individuals or learners with specific needs
 Blindness
o not language handicapped
o influence of limited visual information
o blindness does not affect communicative interaction and some aspects of
language development (Joint Attention)
 Deafness
o problem in hearing results to problem in language development
o language exposure is important
o Oralist Method
 speech dependent
 teaching deaf students’ actual speech
 Mental Retardation
o Down Syndrome
 Trisonomy 21
 delayed language development
 more linguistically impaired
 grammar is most affected
o Williams Syndrome
 caused by deletion of 26 genes
 elfin facial appearance
 poor performance in grammar
 pay attention to people’s faces
o Individuals with Autism
 appears during infancy
 Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD)
 widespread abnormality of social interactions
 comorbidity
o Cleft Palate
 first trimester of pregnancy
o Chronic Otitis Media
 articulation disorder
 slow or defective
o Childhood Stuttering
 developmental disfluency
 caused by anxiety but no established cause
o Specific Language Impairment
 disorder that inly impacts language development
 do not have clear neurological impairment or hearing loss